1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pasting apparatus that pastes a non-transparent medium onto an image-formed surface of a transparent medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical image forming apparatus, an electrostatic latent image is formed at an image forming unit by irradiation of laser light from an optical writing unit. The electrostatic latent image is then made visible, i.e., converted into a toner image, by using toner. The toner image is then transferred onto a recording medium, such as a paper, from a paper feed apparatus and fixed to the recording medium. There has been a demand to obtain a gloss image of photographic quality. Methods for obtaining a gloss image are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-341623, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-191678, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-270991, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H3-50586.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-341623, a special toner is used to give a gloss finish. Specifically, a transparent toner is used. The transparent toner is applied uniformly over the entire surface of a recording medium on which a toner image has been formed to obtain photographic image quality. The transparent toner is applied before fixing the toner image to the recording medium.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-191678, a special recording medium is used to give a gloss finish. Specifically, a recording medium having a thermoplastic resin layer at the front and/or reverse surfaces is used. In this case, a toner image is formed on the recording medium, the toner image is fixed to the recording medium in usual manner, and then pressure and heat are applied to recording medium to give a gloss finish.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-270991, a special fixing apparatus is used to give a gloss finish. Specifically, a second fixing unit made of a highly smooth belt is used and it is arranged downstream of a normal (first) fixing unit. After the normal fixing (first fixing) at the first fixing unit, cooling and peeling is carried out after melting the toner again at the second fixing unit. Specifically, a uniform gloss is obtained by utilizing the smoothness of the belt.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H3-50586, a straightforward method is disclosed where a transparent film is used as a recording medium. Specifically, a mirror image is formed on a transparent film and the transparent film is stuck to a white paper or a white board such that the image is in between the two. An image of superior gloss and texture can be seen when viewed from the side of a transparent film.
However, with Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-341623, there are the problems of a necessity to supply transparent toner uniformly over the entire surface and of images becoming blurred due to the transparent toner. This also requires exclusive development of an apparatus body and substantial development resources are therefore required.
In the technology in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-191678, real objective can be achieved only by implementation together with a special fixing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-270991. Moreover, it has problems with regards to structure, cost, and power consumption, etc.
With the technology of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H3-50586, sticking of the transparent film to a white paper is carried out manually using adhesive etc. Because of the manual operation, there are problems with regard to pasting precision (position shifting) and formation of air bubbles between the transparent film and the white paper. The air bubbles cause diffused reflection and degrade the picture quality.